Talk Nerdy to Me Comics, movies, TV shows

July 12, 2016July 18, 2016

Talk Nerdy to Me Comics, movies, TV shows

This week our heroes are back with Episode 2 to discuss the unfolding events in Marvel Secret Wars and DC Comics Convergence story-lines. We tell you our thoughts and reviews on the company wide special events from the Big 2 comics publishers.

We also have a special guest, Game Guru Trevor Cooper in studio to teach us how to play the popular game, Batman Love Letter. This game is a variation of the original game “Love Letter” using a Batman theme. Who doesn’t need more Batman in their life?

DC Comics Convergence

Over a number of decades in the 20th century, DC Comics re-imagined its staple characters and concepts and acquired comic book properties from rival publishers. Classic characters which had been replaced were then brought back, and explained as residing on Earth-Two, while those of other publishers lived on fanciful worlds such as Earth-S and Earth-X. This storytelling device, positing an infinite “Multiverse” of worlds full of heroes and villains, fed many DC stories for some time.

In 1985 however, DC chose to simplify its continuity with a crossover story called Crisis on Infinite Earths, in which all of the Multiverse was combined into a single world with one amalgamated history. Subsequent “crisis” story-lines have seen reality threatened and reshaped again, often as a way of adjusting the fictional history of the setting of DC’s stories. Stories like this include Zero Hour: Crisis in Time (1994); Infinite Crisis (2006), which brought back the Multiverse concept, this time with 52 finite worlds; Final Crisis (2008), in which the destruction of the Multiverse was narrowly averted; and Flashpoint (2011), which resulted in the 52-world Multiverse resetting, and bringing about the contemporary setting of DC Comics, published until Convergence under the branding “The New 52”.

The Grant Morrison comic book The Multiversity (2014–2015) also explored the complete meta-history of the Multiverse in further depth, and mapped out a majority of the 52 worlds which make it up since Flashpoint.

Secret Wars Battleworld

When the Marvel Universe and the Ultimate Universe collide, there is only…Battleworld! Featuring the fights, battles and blow-ups that are just TOO BIG for Secret Wars! When a Dr. Strange-possessed Punisher goes on the run, only Spider-Man, Wolverine, Hulk and Ghost Rider can track him down! Question: What happens when M.O.D.O.K. recruits every single M.O.D.O.K. ever for his evil schemes? Answer: M.O.D.O.K. M.A.D.N.E.S.S.!

Astro City

Astro City is an anthology series that focuses on a large cast of characters, from small cameo roles of a few panels to full center stage attention spanning several issues. Most of the characters live within Astro City, a center for super-powered beings, and most stories take place there. Some issues are told from the viewpoint of heroes. Some from the vantage point of average people. Still others from villains and shady criminals.

Stories also vary greatly in length, from one issue to sixteen in the case of the story arc, Dark Age, whose main viewpoint was that of Charles and Royal Williams, two brothers in their early adult years living in Astro City. Stories often reflect particular tropes in superhero stories: that heroes have a unique “rogue’s gallery” of villains they fight, that heroes from outside Astro City have powers/names that reflect where they live, and even specific trends in superhero comics (the Dark Age story arc, for instance, revolved around the gritty style of superhero stories that appeared following the publication of Alan Moore’s “Watchmen” series).

Astro City explores how people—both ordinary people and the heroes and villains themselves—react to living in their world. For example, in the first story, Samaritan reflects on his life during a typical day in which he spends almost all of his waking hours flying around the world to help people, with little time to enjoy the sheer physical sensation of flight. Other stories involve a date between two high-profile heroes, the initiation of a “kid sidekick” hero, the efforts of a reformed supervillain to find a life outside of prison, a superhero being driven away from Earth by his “love’s” attempts to expose him, and the life of an innocent bystander in the days after having been held hostage by a supervillain.

Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars

NOT A SECRET WARS TIE-IN! Well…it is…but not THAT Secret Wars. Remember the original Secret Wars from 1984? And remember how Deadpool played a huge important role in it? Wait…you DON’T? Then you need to read this series immediately and be educated! From the team that brought you DEADPOOL KILLUSTRATED comes the most Secretest War of all! Plus: a bonus Deadpool Contest of Champions tale!